Monday, 25 May 2009

One week to go to Launch Day on Monday lst June and your support just continues to grow and grow. It has been a pleasure to visit your blogs over the weekend and to see the logo banners and blog candy really prominently displayed and as a result of you all spreading the word we now have over 600 Followers!!!!!

We are now in the final stages of completing the editorial for the launch issue with features that we think will have you dipping in and out of The Next Level several times during the week - and that is how we have designed it to be - something more than just a Challenge blog. We have also now closed the applications for Design Team members, with over 200 applicants you can imagine what a difficult choice it will be to select the first Guest Design Team. An announcement of the new team will appear on the lst June and their first contributions will appear in the 8th June issue.

A quick hint and tip for those of you who are experiencing the Blogger issue at the moment connected with Internet Explorer in that you are sometimes unables to access blog pages. Whilst Blogger are searching for a solution, to enable you still to get around blogland, after the blog page has loaded and you get the error message 'Internet Explorer cannot open the web site... Operation aborted' - Click ok, then when you have the white screen, click the back button on your browser and this should re-load the page for you. You may sometimes have to do this a couple of times, but doing this very often does allow you to access the blog page eventually and enable you to move around as normal.

Thanks again everyone for your fantastic continued support - we are seeing in the comments section you are all excited and waiting for next Monday - it will soon be here!!! In the meantime if you are visiting The Next Level for the first time please scroll down to see what we are all about and how you are still in with a chance to win the fantastic blog candy on offer.

Friday, 22 May 2009

Wow, wow, wow – that is all we can think of to say, we are rendered speechless (well almost – but not quite – knowing us two!!) by your fantastic response to the announcement of the birth of The Next Level. We have been visiting all of your blogs and love to see our logo banners and blog candy prominently displayed. We had hoped to leave a personal note on each one to thank you, but due to the immense response, we hope you will accept this update as our personal thank you as we want to focus our time on what we have in store for you.

With over 500 Followers, we have the makings of an amazing team – and we promise you we have a great start lined up with the first Challenge, just 10 days away, that will hopefully tick quite a few of the boxes of what you have been asking for. We have had lots of e-mails with your wish-lists for the coming weeks and we have tailored our first challenge around some of your favorite ideas. We have also had a tremendous response to the DT call and we plan visiting your blogs in more detail over the coming weekend, with an announcement to be published prior to the launch date, but there is still a little left time for you to register your interest, but please make it soon . So until then, keep sending in those ideas and leaving your comments and we encourage anyone new to visiting the blog to scroll down to read about how we want you to become part of our fantastic team.

Sunday, 17 May 2009

The Next Level is the exciting new concept of Dawn (All Pink Girl) and Ann (Madgesty - Love to Create) probably better known as blog name Madge. Our aim in designing this new informative style of blog is not only to produce really creative Weekly Challenges that are not tied to any specific brand, but also to explore new avenues, ideas and techniques with a completely fresh approach.

The Next Level will not only be a fun and informative place to hang out for card crafters and scrapbookers of all levels, but it is hoped that it will also become a valuable source of information, hints and tips, tutorials, downloads and much more. We want to cover the craft of traditional card making but also add in a touch of digital, not too much to scare anyone away, but enough to explore the magical world out there at your fingertips for anyone wanting to venture.

We would very much like you all to be part of this new venture and over the next two week countdown to launch day, we need your support in getting us off to a flying start. Here's how we would like you to help:-

1. Please register as a Follower of The Next Level and also leave us a comment below with a link to your own blog if you have one.

2. On your own blog, please spread the word about The Next Level and link people back to our blog with the lure of the fantastic blog candy that will be being awarded on Launch day. Doing this in conjunction with registering as a Follower of the blog will automatically enter you for the big Prize Draw.

3. If you have the time, please e-mail us (see link in sidebar) letting us know if there are any particular elements you would like us to include in the coming weeks’ and also what are your favourite kind of Challenges. We want The Next Level to be your blog as much as it is ours.

4. The Next Level is looking for 4 Guest Design Team Members.Initially the new guest team will join us for around 8 weeks and then we plan to invite new DT members to join us as the Seasons’ change, to give more people a chance of sharing their creativity. Any level of card maker can apply and no previous design team history is necessary - we would also love to encourage people from the UK and Worldwide. If you are interested in joining our team, please send an e-mail (see link in sidebar) to register your interest together with a link to your blog.

So what about the fantastic Blog Candy that is offfer. Below are the photos of the two stunning prize packs that will be awarded on Launch day, Monday 1st June. Anyone who has registered as a Follower of The Next Level and who also supported us with the promotion of the new blog and prize candy on their own blogs will go into the prize draw. The two winners will be announced as the new Challenge goes live bright and early on the Monday morning.

We really look forward to you joining us on The Next Level and hope that you enjoy becoming a part of it with us.